Age curbs on sex education topics risk making some children vulnerable | Relationships and sex education

When it comes to sex education in schools in Englandteachers and experts agree on one thing: using age alone to determine what topics to cover and what to avoid risks making some children more vulnerable.

Headlines announcing the new guidance, which will be published in consultation this week, focused on barriers to teaching sex education in primary schools to children before Year 5, when they are 9 years old.

The revised guidelines are also expected to set out topics to be discussed in secondary schools, with “explicit” teaching of subjects such as contraception and abortion restricted to Year 9.

Jo Morgan, a former teacher who now runs workshops in schools, said the proposed Relationships, Sexuality and Health Education (RSHE) guidelines should protect against “arbitrary age limits” that fail to support young people when they can need them.

She said: “You want to make sure the curriculum is very age and stage appropriate, but you don’t want to deliver things too late and put students at risk.

“Every school will be different and within a school every class will be different. I was a teacher for many years teaching sexuality education and you can go into grade 7 or grade 9 and have a very different experience with a different grade.

“What I would like to see is statutory sexuality education that prioritizes the subject and gives teachers the time and resources to tailor the curriculum to the needs of their students. Being generic, one-size-fits-all, won’t work.

Dr Katie Malbon, Consultant Paediatrician, and Chief Medical Adviser for the Teen Wellbeing Program moonsaid: “Paediatricians in the NHS are seeing girls start their periods earlier, as early as eight years old, so limiting education about sex and contraception to after that point only explains half the biological story, which will only lead to more questions without answer.

“Additionally, studies show that 96% of 8- to 11-year-olds have a smartphone, meaning they can find ways to access this information in unsecured ways through internet searches and often through secret TikTok accounts – leading to misinformation and access to potentially disturbing content.”

School leaders also fear that restricting subjects to certain age groups would create more difficulties than the government thinks it will solve.

“We have serious concerns about how the potential ‘restrictions’ will work in practice,” said Paul Wightman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers.

“Schools are already working hard to ensure that curriculum and teaching are age-appropriate based on current government guidance and have the vital flexibility to respond to their own community and the needs of students in their schools.

“We cannot ignore the fact that some children and young people already have access to information from various sources outside of school. It is hard to see how strict restrictions on what can be discussed and when would be in the best interests of young people.

The PSHE Associationthe national body for personal, social, health and economic learning, said the existing curriculum “has had a positive impact” since it was introduced in 2020 and hoped the revised guidance would not reverse the progress that had been made.

Morgan said one concern is that the review is more politically motivated than protecting children. “My concern is that it creates the impression that relationships and sex education are somehow sexualizing children and harming them, when in fact what it does is protect them and is absolutely necessary. It’s more important now than ever.”